I Am — Matthew Hubbard

Phoenix Harper's childhood was stolen at the age of ten. He was in fourth grade. He raced home to watch cartoons after school. He was sexually molested. No one believed him. And then he blinked. After college graduation, he is forced to return to his hometown. And his family. It's like some higher being pressed pause on the remote control of his life. He'd spent so many years trying to forget what had happened, but the heat of the Alabama summer is slowly engulfing him. Stuck in small town suburbia, he meets a cast of characters who alter his outlook on life. Each new encounter brings to light a part of himself he didn't know he was missing. With the help of the cashier and the bag boy at the local grocery store, an elderly neighbor who sips sweet tea on the front porch, and his kid sister who acts like a crazed baboon, Phoenix will finally confront his past. It's time to discover what life is truly about.